Benjamin s



(No Model.)

' B. S.,BENSON.

- PLOW.

No. 264,434, Patented Sept. 19, 1882.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

BENJAMIN S. BENSON, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

P LOW.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 264,434, dated September19, 1882.

' Application filed May 6, use. (No moat-.1.)

To all whom 'it may concern Belt known that I, BENJAMIN S. BENSON, ofBaltimore city, State of Maryland, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Flows; and I do hereby declare the same to be fully,clearly. and exactly described as follows, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is aside elevation, and Fig. 2is a top plan, of the plow.

My invention relates to wheel-plows of that general class in which theframe runs upon a pair of wheels arranged to be raised or lowered toalter the depth of the furrow, as maybe desired, and it has for itsobject to lighten the draft of the plow and to gage with certainty itsout.

The invention will first be described, and then pointed out in theclaims.

In the drawings, A is the beam, to which is attached a mold-board, a,reversely -,inclined sharea, turned up at a and bolted to the frame B. Ishall not in this instrument refer particularly to this peculiarmold-board and share, nor set forth their great advantages. This featureis described at length in Letters Patent No. 252,991, granted to meJanuary 31,

" 1882, to which the reader is referred.

In plowing very hard or uneven ground a difficulty was experienced inkeeping the width of furrow uniform, the plow being crowded away fromthe land side, the weight and re sistance ofthe slice of earth which wasbeing turned not sufficing to resist the thrust. 1 obviate thisdifficulty by automatically steering the plow bymeans of the maincarrying-wheel, the same constituting a salient feature of my presentinvention.

The beam A is attached to a frame, A, which is supported on threewheels, 1), J, and N. The wheel D is mounted on an axle, c, bent atright angles, as shown, the upright portion passing behind a roller, 0-,and through an upper bearing in a standard, 0, securely bolted to thebeam A. A lever, E, in convenient reach from the drivers seat,terminates below in a pulley, d, over which a chain, 0, leads to the endof the axle c. A segment, 01, ratcheted on its periphery, is secured tothe shaft on which the lever E is pivoted, a pawl-bar, 6, similar tothat of the reversing-lever of a locomotive, being carried by the leverE and adapted to engage with the teeth of the segment (1. ltis obviousthat upon moving the lever forward from the drivers seat the chain isunwound from the pulley d and the frame AA is lowered. Reverse movementof the lever lifts the frame, if need be, to an extent to carry the plowclearof the ground. Collars r r r serve to adjust the wheels D J N ontheir axles laterally. The axle of the wheel J is attached to a bar, 11,pivoted at'i to the frame A and turned upward at i, the end of the partt" being pivoted to a bar, 2?, which is pivoted to the short arm h, thatis secured -to a shaft, 3, mounted in suitable hearings on the frame. Tothe other end of .this shaft, so as to be in reach from the seat, is alever, h, carrying a paWLbar, h, adapted to engage with a ratchetedsegment, H. Upon rocking the lever it back orforth the wheel J is raisedor lowered, as will be readily understood.

A beam or bar,f, is adjustably secured in a box,f, mounted. on the endof the axle c, and extends forward and across the frame A, where it isadjustably secured by bolts f to a bar, F. The latter turns down at theside of the frame,and to itsend is secured the laudside G.

P is a hinged catch secured to a standard, 10, and is adapted whenlowered to clasp and lock the barf. V

A shaft, 70, mounted in bearings K on the frame, carries a lever, L,provided with afootplate, l, near the drivers seat, and at its other endthe shaft terminates in a lever, M, connected by a chain, m, with thebarf.

The front wheel, N, is mounted on an axle, a, bent thrice at-rightangles, the upright portion passing through a bearing, 0, laterallyadjustable on the front bar of the frame, and

being provided with holes a, in one of which a pin is inserted,determining the height ofthe front of the frame abovethe ground.wardly-projecting part 12 of the axle-bar terminates in a olevis,h,having a series of holes, in one of which the double-tree hook is inserted.

F is a vertical plate, attached at the side of the mold-board a,designed to prevent any slip due to lateral thrust. A brace, V, conmeets the mold-board with the beam.

. In plowing hard ground the Wheel D is a simple broad road-wheel,having by preference a rib, D, to prevent lateral slip; but for use inThe forsoft ground I prefer to use the wheel covered by Letters PatentNo. 252,348, granted to me January 17, 1882.

In operation, in running the first furrow the bar fis locked by thecatch P and the wheel J is raised, so as to permit the plowshare to sinkto the desired depth. On the return the wheel J runs in the furrow, andis lowered correspondingly, the wheel D running upon the land. Thelandside G slides and bears against the wall of the slice being cut, andfollowing, ofeourse, the contour of the previous furrow. It will beseenthat any lateral movement of the plate Gr due to turns in the furrow orirregularities causes the horizontal part of the axle 0 to inclinetothelineof draft,either to the front or rear, steering the plow awayfrom or toward the land. Should there be an obstruction in the way ofthe landside G,it may be temporarily lifted by depressing the lever Leither by the hand or foot.

All the wheels ofthe plow being susceptible of independent vertical andlateral movement, the nicest adjustment. is provided for.

'lhevertical moldboard I isdesignedforuse in hard ground, where itseffect is to prevent any lateral slide of the plow away from the land,due to the thrust upon the share.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a plow, asupporting-wheel mounted upon an axle susceptibleofangular movement with reference to the lineof drat't, and adapted, inconnection with a gage plate or landside, to automatically steer theplow, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. in a plow, a supporting-wheel susceptible of angular movement withreference to the line of draft, in combination with a gageplate orlandside adapted to follow the con tour of the previous furrow andactuate the wheel to steer the plow, as set forth.

3. In a plow, a gage-plate or landside eonneeted with the axle of thesupporting-wheel, and adapted in connection therewith to steer the plow,as set forth, in combination with means for lifting said plate to clearobstructions, substantially as described.

4. Ina plow,and in combination with its curved mold-board, areversely-inclined share, a, and a vertical plate, I adapted to resistlateral thrust, as set forth.

5. In combination with the plow, the supporting-wheel D, susceptible ofvertical adjustment and of angular mot'ement with reference to thelineof draft,in combination with the barf, curved across the frame andcarrying a gageplatc or landside,and means for lifting the same andadjusting it laterally, as set forth.

(3. In combination with theplow and frame, a series ofvertically-adjustable supporting;- whe'els, one or more of which aresusceptible of angular movement with reference to the line of draft, andmeans, substantial y as described, for determining such movementautomatically with reference to the contour of the previous furrow.

7. In combination with the plow and frame, having supporting-wheels D J,one of which is susceptible of an angular movement with reference to theline of draft, the gage-plate G and swiveling-wheel N, vertically andlaterally adjustable with reference to the frame, as set forth.

BENJAMIN S. BENSON. \Vitnesses:

R. D. WILLIAMS, JNO. T. MADDoX.

